The invention relates to a device for separating liquid droplets from gases, particularly an air deoiling element. Separators for liquid droplets from gases are used, for instance, to separate water and/or oil from air. Separators of this type are used particularly for deoiling the air in compressors.
A gas stream that comes into contact with liquids may pick up droplets of liquid. Liquid droplets may be entrained mechanically, e.g., as the gas flows through the liquid or is guided over a liquid. In rotary screw compressors, for example, air comes into contact with oil. The oil is used to aid sealing and to cool and lubricate the compressor. Liquid droplets can also be created in a gas stream through condensation. For example, condensation causes liquid droplets to form in a stream of steam. When compressed air is produced, temperatures can reach approximately 200° C. Because of these temperatures, a portion of the oil that is supplied to a rotary screw compressor, for example, evaporates. On subsequent cooling, the oil vapor condenses to droplets and mist. The oil droplets of a rotary screw compressor have a diameter on the order of magnitude of approximately 0.01 μm to 100 μm.
Droplet separators serve to separate liquid droplets from gases. Droplet separators are capable of separating a liquid phase from a gas phase. Droplet separators can be used to clean exhaust streams. With droplet separators, entrained liquid droplets can be separated from process gas streams. This separation can reduce corrosion or erosion of plant parts or caking or deposits on plant parts. Droplet separators are used, for example, to deoil compressed air.
Droplet separators can be configured as inertial separators. In inertial separators, the inertia of the droplets is used to separate the droplets on walls. Inertial separators are suitable particularly for larger droplets, typically having a diameter greater than approximately 20 μm. A simple form of a droplet separator is a baffle plate. In a baffle plate, a gas stream laden with liquid droplets is directed against a plate such that the gas stream changes its direction. Because of their inertia, the droplets contained in the gas stream maintain their direction, strike the plate and are discharged from there. Another type of inertial separation uses centrifugal forces. In centrifugal separators, the gas stream is guided along a curved path. The centrifugal forces cause the droplets to be guided onto an outer path with as large a radius of curvature as possible. Thus, the droplets are concentrated in this outer region. The droplets can then be separated on a wall, for example, along the outer region of the gas stream and can be discharged from that wall. As an alternative, gas with a low concentration of droplets can be removed only from the inner region of the gas stream. Various types of cyclones, for example, can be used as centrifugal separators.
Droplet separators can take the form of drainage elements. In a drainage element, a gas stream laden with liquid droplets is directed through a net-like and/or porous drainage structure. For example, a wire mesh or a nonwoven fabric, e.g., formed of a synthetic material or glass fibers may be used as the drainage structure. Droplets pass through the drainage structure more slowly than the gas stream. Due to gravity, the droplets move to the geodetically lower area of the drainage structure, where they collect and from where they can be discharged.
Inertial separation becomes more efficient the larger the droplets entrained in the gas stream are. To increase the size of the droplets, coalescing elements are used. In these coalescing elements, the gas stream is directed through a net-like and/or porous coalescing structure. This coalescing structure can be formed, for example, of a wire mesh or a nonwoven fabric of e.g., a synthetic material or glass fibers. The gas stream follows the flow lines. The droplets cannot follow the flow lines and adhere to the peripheral areas of the coalescing structure. A liquid film forms on the coalescing structure. Small droplets aggregate to larger droplets, i.e., they coalesce. The larger droplets leave the coalescing structure. Coalescing elements may also exhibit a drainage effect. In this case, the droplets form the liquid film on the coalescing structure, move to the geodetically lower area and can be discharged from there. Thus, a combined coalescing and drainage element may be formed. The larger and therefore heavier droplets exiting from the coalescing structure fall in the gas stream and can therefore also be removed from the gas stream.
Persons skilled in the art know various combinations of drainage and coalescing elements as well as inertial separators for separating liquids from gases, depending on the fields of application. The system described below is known for deoiling compressed air from compressors. In a pressure vessel, a cylindrical flow baffle is inserted at the upper end. The cylinder formed by the flow baffle is open at the bottom toward the interior of the pressure vessel. The compressed air flows in tangentially between the flow baffle and the pressure vessel wall, causing a preliminary separation of oil on the wall of the pressure vessel. The separated oil is returned to the compressor. The compressed air flows from below into the air deoiling element, which is located within the cylinder formed by the flow baffle. The air deoiling element comprises one or more coalescing and/or drainage stages, e.g., a coalescing structure of borosilicate glass fibers and a drainage structure of a nonwoven polyester fabric. The nonwoven fabric formed of borosilicate glass fibers and the nonwoven polyester fabric are each mounted onto a metal support member. Flow moves through the air deoiling element from the outside toward the inside. Small liquid droplets aggregate to larger droplets in the coalescing structure and in part already sink in the coalescing structure. Larger droplets exiting the coalescing structure sink further within the drainage structure and collect on the bottom of the air deoiling element. The oil on the bottom of the air deoiling element is returned to the compressor through a drainage line. The deoiled compressed air is transported from the pressure vessel into an accumulator.
A drawback in the described air deoiling system, which is used, for example, in rotary screw compressors, is that the pressure vessel must have a larger inside diameter than the air deoiling element so that the air can circulate around the air deoiling element. Thus, the pressure vessel must be manufactured in a larger size, which is more costly.
A further drawback is that air deoiling must be taken into account in the design of the pressure vessel. The inlet for the compressed air from the compressor must, for example, be tangential to obtain pre-separation. In addition, the pressure vessel in which the air deoiling element is installed is usually provided with a cylindrical baffle plate.
Conventional air deoiling elements have a one-piece construction. In case of replacement, the entire air deoiling element is replaced and a solid, heavy composite of metal, glass fiber and plastic as well as oil residues must be disposed of.
Because of the solid construction of the air deoiling element, a completely new air deoiling element must be designed, for example, when more coalescing surface is required to reduce the pressure loss across the coalescing stage. Different applications require completely different air deoiling elements to be produced.